ADVENTURES WITH BIRDS OF PREY 



IIS 



"what's going on down there?" wonders the mother broad-winged hawk 



Her sharp e>'es have noticed a movement in the blind at the foot of the tree. From there the 

 camera, fastened to a limb near the nest, was operated by a string. The Craigheads did not capture 

 the two fluffy nestlings, photographed near Washington, D. C, because they had learned from 

 experience that broad-winged hawks are not fast and fierce enough to train as hunters. 



from the air. Before long, all of her tail 

 feathers were broken so badly that it was 

 hard for her to fly and almost impossible to 

 make quick stops or turns. 



GIVING comet new tails 



The only thing to do was to give the bird 

 a new tail. As we had no Cooper's hawk 

 tail feathers, we "imped in" those of a male 

 marsh hawk by inserting small needles in 

 the old stubs, fitting them into the new 

 quills, and putting glue on the junction. 



This improvised tail worked well until 

 it went the way of the original one. A 

 crow's tail was used next and then the 

 soft, flexible tail of a barred owl, which 

 proved most satisfactory because it would 



bend without breaking, but it made poor 

 Comet look like no bird the world has 

 ever seen. 



Since that first year, we have procured 

 and trained for falconry some ten species 

 of hawks. Some, because they were slow 

 and sluggish in flight or had very little 

 intelligence, we found to be of no use. 

 Others were swift and courageous, intelli- 

 gent and keen. 



On the honor roll we would put the duck 

 hawk, prairie falcon. Cooper's hawk, gos- 

 hawk, pigeon hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, 

 and even the little sparrow hawk. 



At the foot of the class are the red- 

 shouldered, broad-winged, and red-tailed 

 hawks. These are soaring hawks, compara- 



